Emre Sabuncuoglu

Dr. Emre Sabuncuoglu has established himself as one of the most gifted and versatile musicians of his generation. His broad academic background and wide-ranging musical interests have led him in many different directions, forging a unique career rooted in performance, ethnomusicology, and composition.

Emre’s work has earned many prestigious awards. In 1992, Emre won first prize in the nineteenth Arthez de Bearn International Guitar Competition (Pau, France), and in 1996, he captured first prize in the 1st Antonio Lauro Classical Guitar Competition (Ankara, Turkey). He has performed in South America, Europe, Mexico, and the United States, sharing the stage with some of the world’s leading guitarists such as Rodrigo Riera, Alirio Diaz, Roland Dyens, Hopkinson Smith, Ernesto Bitetti, Luiz Zea, and Aquiles Baez.

Born in Ankara, Turkey, he took lessons from the internationally acclaimed Turkish guitarist Ahmet Kanneci at Hacettepe University State Conservatory and joined several master classes of Paul Galbraith, Eliot Fisk, Jorge Cardoso, Javier Hinojosa and Hiroki Terashima.

Emre holds a Master of Music degree, magna cum laude, from New England Conservatory in Boston, where he was a student of guitarist and composer David Leisner. He also studied composition with Michael Gandolfi and David Leisner.

A gifted mathematician as well as a musician, Emre received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics at Middle East Technical University, specializing in universal algebra and lattice theory. From 1998 to 2000, he worked with the mathematician and composer Andreas Tiefenbach toward his Master of Science degree in Mathematics.

In February 2005, the Young Guru Academy selected Emre to participate in its inaugural USA Leadership Camp. The Young Guru Academy, whose mission is “to select, educate, train and inspire creative, innovative, and socially responsible leaders,” selects  young people of Turkish descent to participate in its annual leadership camp for the purpose of sharpening their leadership skills, igniting their creativity, and inspiring them to seek ways in which they can use their gifts to benefit their communities and the world.

In 2006, Emre completed his doctorate (D.M.A., Doctor of Musical Arts) at the University of Southern California, Thornton School of Music as a student of Prof. James F. Smith. As an Andrés Segovia Endowed Music Scholarship recipient, he has pursued doctoral minors in the areas of music theory, ethnomusicology and Flamenco guitar, and has studied performance with the legendary guitarist Pepe Romero. Information on his doctoral dissertation, which focuses on the relationship between music and mathematics, can be found on his website EmreSabuncuoglu.com.

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Please note, Emre has currently retired his teaching practice but stays active contributing to the classical guitar repertoire through his arrangements.